WINTER VERDURE OF THE FARM 91 



archaic type that bear naked seeds in cones and have incon- 

 spicuous flowers. The latter are of more recent origin and 

 have mostly very showy flowers. So great are these differen- 

 ces that we may better consider the two groups separately. 



The larger conifers all have one habit of growth: they 

 shoot upward straight as an arrow. Most of them have their 

 branches arranged in whorls about the slender tapering trunk, 

 and extended horizontally. Thus, under their winter 

 burden of ice and snow, they may bend down uninjured until 

 they rest on branches below, or on the ground. Given plenty 

 of room, the pines grow in ragged outlines; the spruces, 

 hemlock and balsam are beautifully tapering and conical ; the 

 arborvitas and the taller cedars approach cylindric form. In 

 color the white pine is the darkest green; the pitch pine is 

 yellowish green. The balsams and certain spruces and 

 cedars have a bluish cast. Arborvitae is a chameleon, that 

 changes its color with the season, being rather dull and un- 

 attractive in midwinter, but making up for it by the liveliness 

 of its tints a little later. In texture the pines are loosest, 

 their long needles being arranged in bundles. The balsams 

 and spruces have a sleek, furry aspect. The hemlock is soft 

 and fine: indeed, of all foliage masses, there are none more 

 beautiful than those of well-grown hemlock. And the 

 closest textures of all are wrought out of the minute, close-laid 

 leaves of the cedars and the arborvitse. The red cedar is not 

 among the largest of the conifers, but it is a valuable one, 

 because of the fine aromatic fragrance and the enduring 

 quality of its wood. The yews and the junipers are the 

 underlings of this group: they are low, sprawling shrubs 

 that grow on the forest floor in the shade, or on stony and 

 barren slopes. 



This exceedingly important group of trees furnishes us 

 with a great variety of products: timber, fuel, tannin, tur- 

 pentine, rosin, etc. ; but it furnished the red man with many 



